Advancing Coastal Resilience through Integrated Modeling of Compound Flooding Events

Coastal areas, facing escalating hazards intensified by climate change, are particularly vulnerable to wind-driven storm surge, waves, and flooding. The unprecedented events of Hurricane Harvey in 2017 highlighted the urgent need to better predict and understand storm-induced impacts in complex coastal environments. This study integrates two numerical modeling frameworks, namely the Delft3D Flexible Mesh (DFM) and Super-Fast INundation of CoastS (SFINCS), to provide a comprehensive approach addressing the challenges of coastal hazards and compound flooding in the Texas Gulf Coast region. This integrated DFM approach incorporates features like surface wave, hydrological, and hydraulic model-coupling, alongside grid nesting procedures to capture the wave and flow dynamics. The variable grid configuration optimally represents bathymetry while improving 
simulation time and accuracy. Model validation against measurements ensures a high level of accuracy, with a focus on estimating spatiotemporal variability in storm-induced surge and flooding. Addressing challenges faced by Texas Gulf Coast communities, a probabilistic surge 
and flood-inundation modeling system employing SFINCS is proposed. This system offers probabilities for different water depth thresholds, supporting surge and flood risk assessments, resilient infrastructure design, and coastal planning decisions. SFINCS, with reduced computational demand, uses essential physics for efficiency and accuracy, overcoming limitations of High-Performance Computing (HPC) systems. The study's outcome includes probabilistic predictions of compound flooding events in the Texas Gulf Coast region, presented through a probabilistic map and data. Stakeholders and end-users will benefit from this information for short and long-term planning and management, contributing to the resilience of coastal communities facing the complex challenges of climate-induced hazards. This integrated approach advances scientific understanding, supports decision-making, and promotes mutual benefit for researchers, policymakers, and coastal communities 
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